There is known a probe apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as “prober”) which inspects electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device as an example of an inspection target chip formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as “wafer”) as an example of an inspection target substrate.
As an example of such a prober, there is known a prober equipped with a probe card having a preset number of probe needles (probes) each of which is to be brought into contact with corresponding one of a plurality of semiconductor devices formed on a wafer; and a stage configured to be freely movable in up-and-down and left-right directions while placing thereon the wafer (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this prober, the probe needles are brought into contact with electrode pads or solder bumps of the semiconductor device, and by flowing an inspection current to the electrode pads or the solder pumps from the probe needles, the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device is inspected.
In the prober described in Patent Document 1, by moving the stage two-dimensionally, a position of the semiconductor device facing the probe needles is adjusted, and the inspection is performed while sequentially changing semiconductor devices to be inspected. In this way, the electrical characteristics of a part of or all of the semiconductor devices formed on the wafer can be inspected.
In the inspection of the semiconductor device by the prober, the probe needles provided on the probe card need to be brought into secure contact with the electrode pads or the solder bumps of the semiconductor device formed on the wafer. For the purpose, prior to inspecting a product wafer, by using a reference wafer on which the semiconductor device equivalent to that of the product wafer as an inspection target is formed, it is inspected whether the probe needles come into accurate contact with the semiconductor device. In the reference wafer, a position on which the semiconductor device is formed is already known.
To elaborate, the reference wafer is aligned with the stage, and the stage is driven such that the preset semiconductor device formed on the reference wafer is located directly under the probe needles. Then, the probe needles are pressed against the electrode pads of the semiconductor device which is located directly under it, so that needle marks are left on the electrode pads. By taking out the wafer and checking the needle marks with naked eyes, it can be inspected whether the preset semiconductor device is positioned within an allowable region with respect to the probe needles.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication H07-297242